Jim McGuinness feels Donegal captain Michael Murphy needs a few months off to let his body heal, pointing to the knocks he has been carrying all season as finally taking their toll.
Murphy has looked laboured throughout Donegal’s campaign, and despite still having a massive influence for Rory Gallagher’s side, his movement did look restricted.
His former manager McGuinness says Murphy needs a rest for a couple of months in order to let his body heal.
In his weekly column with The Irish Times, McGuinness said, “I feel Michael could do with a rest to let the body heal in the coming months, as he’s been carrying a few knocks all the way through the championship and trying to manage himself between games.
“It’s not easy, the loss of Neil Gallagher was very significant, so hen Dublin pushed up on the Donegal kick-out you didn’t have that absolute go-to man in terms of fetching, which forced Michael Murphy to fill that void as well.”
With Gallagher out, Donegal needed a commanding presence around the middle of the field, and the versatile Murphy was able to provide that for Rory Gallagher.
However, many wanted him stationed on the edge of the square, Gallagher tried to utilize him in both positions but it was a difficult task.
On Saturday, Murphy landed some monster scores from frees and 45’s, but struggled to have his usual impact from open play, and was uncharacteristically dispossessed on a number of occasions.
Former Mayo boss James Horan, who was on commentating duties for Sky Sports felt Murphy ‘just didn’t loom right’ and felt it was obvious he was carrying an injury.
However, with club championship action set to resume in a few weeks, it’s unlikely Murphy will be get a rest anytime soon, as he’ll be asked to help Glenswilly into the last eight of the Donegal SFC, while the Foxhall outfit also have a battle to avoid relegation on their hands.
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